The warrior within: Preserving the Peace

In this article I will be discussing my views on what “our” role is. When I say “our”, I am referring to Police, Corrections, Peace Officers, Security and any other agency that has a stake in public safety. I believe that many of us start out with a serious misunderstanding about what our role is.
I know that I did. It was only after reading the book “Unleashing the Power of Unconditional Respect: Transforming Law Enforcement and Police Training” by Charles Huth and Jack Colwell, that I developed a much greater understanding on what I believe our role to be.

Too many of our colleagues start their career assuming that their role is “law enforcement”. However, this is not the case. The true professional understands that our role is preserving the peace and ensuring public safety. Law enforcement is just a tool to aid us in that role. What does that mean? It means we need to focus more on ensuring that the peace is maintained as opposed to racking up the number of arrests we make or tickets we write. While tickets and arrests are important and they serve a purpose we need to should always be asking ourselves “is there another way?”.

It seems that people in our profession quickly forget the principles of policing that are attributed to Sir Robert Peel.

“1. The basic mission for which the police exist is to prevent crime and disorder.

2. The ability of the police to perform their duties is dependent upon public approval of police actions.

3. Police must secure the willing co-operation of the public in voluntary observance of the law to be able to secure and maintain the respect of the public.

4. The degree of co-operation of the public that can be secured diminishes proportionately to the necessity of the use of physical force.

5. Police seek and preserve public favour not by catering to public opinion but by constantly demonstrating absolute impartial service to the law.

6. Police use physical force to the extent necessary to secure observance of the law or to restore order only when the exercise of persuasion, advice and warning is found to be insufficient.

7. Police, at all times, should maintain a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.

8. Police should always direct their action strictly towards their functions and never appear to usurp the powers of the judiciary.

9. The test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with it.”
-Peels Principles of Policing (New Westminster Police Service British Columbia, Canada)


We quickly forget these principles and fall into a law enforcement mindset. In my opinion the law enforcement mindset is; upholding the letter of the law and ensuring strict obedience. Anyone who breaks the law is the “bad guy” and is clearly against us. They become “scumbags”, “shit heads”, “assholes” and other colourful terms. When we adopt this mindset we set ourselves apart from these people. Our world becomes us vs. them. We actually treat these people as less then human. Then a news story breaks and, rightly or wrongly, we are put in a negative light. So all of a sudden we lose the confidence of the public. Now the general public become “assholes” who don’t understand the job. The us vs. them attitude continues to grow. Our officers begin to dislike dealing with the public. We being to feel superior to the public and we forget that they are the ones who we serve.

In 1829 the first Joint Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service, Sir Richard Mayne said, “The primary object of an efficient police is the prevention of crime: the next that of detection and punishment of offenders if crime is committed. To these ends all the efforts of police must be directed. The protection of life and property, the preservation of public tranquillity, and the absence of crime, will alone prove whether those efforts have been successful and whether the objects for which the police were appointed have been attained.”

Colwell and Huth state that we have moved away from this mission and instead we have become a reactionary force. I believe that this transition has occurred because it is easier to be reactive then it is to be proactive. In a day an age when budgets are cut and staffing levels are short we cut down on proactive measures and instead focus on reacting. Everything boils down to getting stats to prove our worth. The more stats we have showing what we a dealing with the easier it is to demonstrate a need for departmental funding. The way we get the stats is by making arrests and writing tickets. All of a sudden the prevention of crime starts to take a backseat. These leads to further ingraining the law enforcement mindset in our officers.

When I worked for a small municipality just south of Calgary my supervisor said something that I didn’t fully understand. Our job, first and foremost was to educate the public. When he made traffic stops he educated people. He still wrote tickets, but I believe that he focused more on upholding the spirit of the law rather then the letter. Often the vehicles he stopped had committed several violations. It would have been easy for him to write a ticket for every offence but he didn’t. He might write one or two but he educated the driver on what was wrong. He made sure the driver knew that they were getting some breaks and he made sure they knew what those breaks were. He was well respected in that community and people would be thanking him after he had just handed them a ticket. He was the first member of any public safety organisation to actually teach me about discretion.

Many new officers have never been taught any discretion. Just because a trespasser is on your property you aren’t required to arrest them. It is certainly an option but it is not a requirement. Those who believe that our goal is law enforcement will focus on getting these arrests. Those who understand that law enforcement is just a tool to preserve the peace will make the arrest as a last option.

Stay safe,

Chris

*Please note that the opinions reflected in these articles are mine and mine alone. They are based upon my education, training and experience. They in no way reflect the opinions of my agency, ProtectionServices.ca or the site administrator. Always consult with your agency instructor and check your policy prior to attempting any new procedures or techniques.*